I heavily disagree, if you compare him with Delpierre and Madlung there is a significant difference between them and Mertesacker. Naldo's AGI has to go up, Mertesacker's current 73 are realistic IMO. Simunic I would set 1 below Mertesacker.

Lately I thought that his BB should be rather 88 than 90. The current 90 makes him much stronger than Terry for instance. Of course he is rarely being outmuscled, but this is also due to his outstanding RESP. With 90 and his weight he seems to strong in the game I think. 88 would be on a par with Naldo.

I see these stats and I see people say that Mertesacker is the best defender in de bundesliga or even in the world....... Sorry but then I've got to say some words. I think 85 defense, 90 balance and all 4 defencive special abilities is already pretty damn generous. And people are seriously suggesting even raising it up beyond players like Pique, Puyol and Terry?! Does he really deserve all that? I just can't believe he is this good. When I think of good defenders in the world he is not a player I would think of at all.

Mr. Evans wrote:Almost forgot about this guy. How come Germany's best defender, look at his stats compared to the other German defenders, isn't a key-player in the German NT (not even selected)?

Hey, Per had an awful season by his standards, the guy caused about 20 goals due to his lack of pace (even slower than 1st post) and bad distribution. The defender makes Vidic look like a speed demon, although he's never ever beaten for strength, his Balance could come up by a point or 2. But he's lost a lot of form this year and was in a lot of people's worst 11 of 2011, along with Simunic and Silvestre at the back (and Molinaro). He's very cumbersome and not very agile, nowhere near a 74, even with his weight... and for him to have COVERING, COVERING! is laughable. His decline has been rapid, a lot of people had compared Babstuber to him (well bayern fans and people who've seen them both) and well they weren't wrong, Bayern have a good prospect in Bab, but, really were they to buy Per in the summer they'd be idiotic, especially considering they're both of a similar standard now. Friedrich is twice the player Mertesacker is.

And if Arsenal continue to adopt the same style of defending that they have used this season and last, this signing will turn to be a disaster. Hopefully Mertesacker will be the player who finally adds organisation to our back-line, and commands the line to work in tandem. If that's not the case, he will fail as a signing.

Why? Our back-line plays really high up the pitch, I mean suicidally high. Too often our back-line could be left exposed by a long-ball over the top to a striker pressing the line (Key example: Darren Bent in the Arsenal vs. Aston Villa match last season), or the full-backs pressing too far forward against pacy wingers that will look to get behind them (Key example: Manchester United in the Manchester United vs. Arsenal match last weekend). As a result, it means the centre of defence has to play catch-up. And that's fine if you've got pacy defenders like Koscielny or Vermaelen, but less so when you have someone like Squillaci or Mertesacker. In other words, a true "stopper" will not work in a current tactical system. Players like Mertesacker (and Squillaci) like to defend in an around the box; they can use their acute positioning and strength to their advantage to channel players away from the box, and they are less likely to get exposed for pace and their cumbersome movement when compacted around their own area.

Unless Arsenal change their defensive system or Mertesacker acts as the authoritative defender and leader (which Squillaci didn't do last year, thus defying the very purpose of signing him), Mertesacker will flop. Just like Squillaci.

That might be the biggest problem between Mertesacker and the defence of Arsenal. Mertesacker is an old-kind german defender if you know what I mean. He isn't the one building up the game from behind, he just stays back in the defence and cares for a solid defence. Otherwise that could be a win for Arsenal, someone who finally organize the back four again, in combination with Vermaeln - a very aggressive and offensive defender in my eyes - it might be the best mixture to stabilize the defence.